Oakland's annual all day hip-hop festival, Hiero Day 2016 that took place two days ago, was both amazing and historic. Only in its fifth year, the Hieroglyphics collective curated event has not only already established itself as the best annual music and cultural festival in The Town (Oakland). But this annual Labor Day's sold-out, talent-packed, festival comprised of three different concert stages, each offering top notch and totally diverse hip-hop acts, elevated Hiero Day into the best damn hip-hop festival anywhere! Attended by respectful hip-hop fans of all generations and races, but each sharing an appreciation for all styles of hip-hop, Hiero Day 2016 exuded the most positive, peaceful, uplifting vibe of any hip-hop event of its scale that I have ever witnessed anywhere. And that prevailing positive vibe that permeated the air on Monday all seemed to fuel the energy of the acts on stage and their tight sets. Monday's diverse list of over 50 performers included Too $hort, Paris, the Invisibl Skratch Piklz, Dilated Peoples, Murs,Mr. Lif,Just Blaze, Young L, and the Hieros themselves..

Already underway with things started, there's still time for Bay Area hip-hop fans to head on over to the fifth, latest, and best ever Hiero Day 2016 in Oakland. Previous years have been really good but this one, with all the wonderful diver acts on the bill, looks like it beats all previous years. It's an all ages event and is great for kids too since it has such an incredibly peaceful and positive vibe. Most things run close to their schedules but sometimes, like last year, things can run a bit late, especially later in the day. So be patient realistic and don't take the above schedule literally but rather as good guideline to the running order of acts and their set running lengths. In honor of this unique and wonderful cultural event that the hometown Hieroglyphics hip-hop crew (who headline) produce and present, below are a series of corresponding music videos for several of the acts to hit the three concert stages (Full Circle, Third Eye, and Infinity) later today including Dilated Peoples, Murs, Too $hort,The Beat Junkies, The Grouch, Nef The Pharaoh, Juvenile, Lyrics Born, Invisibl Skratch Piklz and Young L. Note that pre-sale tix are no longer available but you can buy tix at the gate. More info on Hiero Day 2016

"No, I never thought that one day I'd be working with the Preservation Hall Jazz Band. It's funny because I went to the Preservation Hall in the '90s to watch them play and I appreciated the music, but my world was centered around hip-hop for a long long time," answered Lyrics Born when quizzed if he ever envisioned himself one day working with the Preservation Hall Jazz Band, as the longtime Bay Area emcee/Quannum co-founder/Latyrx member does on his latest solo album. Entitled Real People and released through his own Mobile Home Recordings label, it is the eighth album (including solo and group) from the artist born Tsutomu "Tom" Shimura, and is available from Amoeba in both CD and digital download formats with a forthcoming vinyl version on the way.

New hip-hop releases to arrive into Amoeba this week include Diamond District's March On Washington Redux album that is an updated all remix version of their 2014 album March On Washington. The new CD from the power trio self-described as the “D.C. Voltron” and comprised of emceesOddisee, yU and Uptown XO, again care of from the label that can do no wrong Mello Music, features non-stop remixes of all 13 tracks including such bangers as L'Orange's remix of "The Backup," the Diamond D remix of "Erything," and the Large Pro remix of "Working Weekends." Meanwhile Diamond District member/Prince George’s County, Maryland native Oddisee has just announced that he will be releasing a new solo album entitled The Good Fight. The album, which will arrive in Amoeba on May 5th again care of Mello Music has been described as a record that will remind you that it’s music before it’s hip-hop. For a preview taste of what it will sound like you can stream the first single, "That's Love," via SoundCloud.